The fact that not a single peacekeeper has died since the operation started proves that it has been effective, Sergey Gubarev, ambassador at large of the Russian Foreign Ministry, told TASS

MOSCOW, July 8 /TASS/. The transformation of a peacekeeping operation in Moldova’s unrecognized Dniester region may radically aggravate the situation and provoke a new armed conflict, Sergey Gubarev, ambassador at large of the Russian Foreign Ministry, said in an interview with TASS on Wednesday.

"In their official speeches Moldovan leaders (and not only them) are constantly calling for the transformation of the peacekeeping operation in the Dniester Republic into a multinational police mission despite the fact that the presidents of Moldova, the Dniester region and Russia highly appreciated its stabilizing role in a joint declaration signed in Moscow on March 18, 2009," Gubarev, who represents Russia at a permanent conference held as part of negotiations for the Dniester settlement, said.

According to him, the peacekeeping operation made it possible to establish effective control over the Security zone straight from start and prevent incidents from growing dramatically uncontrollable. "The fact that not a single peacekeeper has died since the operation started proves that it has been effective," Gubarev added.

"The transformation of the peacekeeping operation in the Security zone may spur the sides to new armed confrontation. If this is the result sought by the ‘transformation’ advocates, then they will bear full responsibility for the emergence of a new trouble spot," Gubarev stressed.